The Vaccine War| Vaccine nationalism with a dose of misinformation

Even though it is well documented that countries across the world--and that includes India, US, China and Italy—failed to check the Covid-19 pandemic, Vivek Agnihotri (director of The Kashmir Files) takes a contrary position. He builds a narrative of triumphalism against the devastating human tragedy. If the film had genuinely attempted to showcase the efforts of the scientific community, it would have been laudable. But Agnihotri isolates India in this effort, adds nationalistic chest-thumping, and normalises misinformation.

The opening scenes set the tone when scientist Dr Nivedita (Girija Oak Godbole) remarks to Balaram Bhargava (Nana Patekar), chief of the Indian Council of Medical Research, “If they eat so many wild animals, this is bound to happen.” She is judging the Chinese for what they eat, and on the basis of reports that the virus originated at a seafood market in Wuhan. The conspiracy theory of a lab leak is an undertone throughout the film.

A supposed conflict between journalist Rohini (Raima Sen) and the ICMR-NIV (National Institute of Virology) scientific community forms the plot of the film. Rohini single handedly tries to derail the development and production of an Indian vaccine at the behest of foreign vaccine companies. How the ICMR-NIV collaboration eventually develops an indigenous vaccine forms the story.

Many inaccuracies creep in. Dr Priya Abraham (Pallavi Joshi), celebrated scientist and director of NIV, claims that for 70 years India didn’t make a single vaccine! In another scene, when the ICMR chief says, “The PM has declared that only science can win this war over Covid,” Dr Nivedita remarks, “I have been a scientist for years, and this is the first time I am hearing such words.' It is possible, at this stage, that you recall how our prime minister encouraged the country to bang plates and tumblers to scare the virus away!

The title cards say the film is an adaptation of the book Going Viral by Balaram Bhargav, then chairman of the ICMR. The fictional conflict and the hyper nationalism of the scientists is probably a ‘value addition’ by the filmmaker, who ends up showing the scientists as lacking in objectivity. The narrative style and the long-drawn climax make the film boring. All in all, The Vaccine War discredits the Indian scientific community by deviating from facts.